I am an advid reader of the weekly update at the armadillo website, however ever since armadillo's big crash and now that the xprize has been won it appears the armadillo team has lost interest in reaching there goals. This is supported by the fact that the no longer put out weekly updates in a timely fashion.

What do you other readers think? Please would someone from the armadillo team update this thread with the reason to the lack of weekly updates.

Oh, we are as busy as we've always been. The next vehicle is very nearly complete, with only the electronics and a few other minor things still needing to be worked out (we're waiting on the custom electronics boards right now). In the meantime we've been very busy experimenting with the LOX/Methanol engines.

As for John not making timely updates of late, I'd speculate that it has something to do with having a baby in his life now. Priorities, you know

I have a hard time waiting for each update. I hate it when they are late or when one is skipped, but I'm just thankful that we get the updates at all. I've been following Armadillo for well over a year now, and there have been other times when updates have been late or skipped. I don't think that this alone (at this point at least) is a sign that they are slowing down.

As they have stated themselves though, their priorities have changed now that the x-prize has been won. They wouldn't be working on the LOX/Methanol engines at all if they were still working against a December deadline to compete for the x-prize.

I really hope they get several successful flights out of their new vehicle before a killer crash. I'm glad they're adding the drogue chute so that their next crash will (hopefully) not destroy the vehicle. They've proven that their idea works. I'm mostly concerned about the reliability of their mixed monopropellent engines. So I'm glad they are working on a potential alternative.

John's team worked the most dangerous tool "Lox Engine". Lox Engine is far risky. I don't like the sound of "150 psi, methanol boils around 130 C." It's too much pressure. Nails will pop out or shoot the inner ship. The best thing is cancel armadillo project.

Well, it looks like my speculation about the delayed update was incorrect. It was not apparently due to new fatherhood, but a very busy week at id Software. There are no photos or video in the latest update, but there it is for you who were worried.

In fact, they have very important news - as i understood, they finally got the LOX engine smoothly running and got 186 Isp with just 125 psi of chamber pressure. With the very real 300 psi of tank pressure it will mean well above 200 isp at the ground.

2John:

Sounds like it could mean about 260 Isp in vacuum with the same engine and 280 or more with a vacuum (say 1:100) nozzle? Did you do any estimates on that matter?

If you get something like 280 Isp, it makes chances for a double-staged orbital vehicle quite real

Well, it looks like my speculation about the delayed update was incorrect. It was not apparently due to new fatherhood, but a very busy week at id Software. There are no photos or video in the latest update, but there it is for you who were worried.